There is an overlap between analytical work and creativity. And a narrow view on the two will just come in the way of the research needed to create anything of any significance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you think about marketing and advertising careers, then creative work is beyond crucial– and you’ll find that it’s also built on research. Marketing is driven by data. And employees have to test out each idea and results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And when it\u2019s time to crunch the numbers and examine graphs, does creativity have a part? It sure does. Whenever someone forms an analysis, a hypothesis, they follow their intuition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, poet, and science communicator Carl Sagan, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected results of science.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Science isn\u2019t just endless sheets of data and information. It\u2019s coming up with creative ideas and observations. All the legendary scientists we study about in school and admire? They possessed some of the most creative minds in history, capable of coming up with and testing the most creative hypotheses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And when creativity and analysis don\u2019t go hand in hand, you\u2019ll find that they\u2019re stages in a process. Depending on the situation and your line of work, you\u2019ll need each one at a different time, but you can\u2019t replace either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Creativity in itself is described as the ability to imagine the world in new, different ways, find hidden patterns, connect unrelated subjects, and, most importantly, creativity is characterized by its ability to find solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s not just painting over a canvass. Creativity is a two-part process: thinking and producing. It\u2019s a \u201ccombinatorial force.\u201d If you\u2019re a creative person, you have the ability to access your mind\u2019s bottomless pool of knowledge, inspiration, and insight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s the process of breathing life into something new in the universe. And it requires incredible amounts of passion and commitment.
So does all of this have a place in our analytical world? Yes. It\u2019s one of its fundamentals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take it from the CEO of IBM, Sam Palmisano. He said, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Either you innovate, or you’re in commodity hell. If you do what everybody else does, you have a low-margin business. That’s not where we want to be.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
And no one lived in a more analytical world than Sam Palmisano. Under his innovative leadership, IBM started to reinvent itself to become a design company. They invested a staggering $100 million to hire designers and educate over 100,000 employees to be creative design thinkers. Over three years, IBM used this strategy to increase their profits by a whopping $18.6 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite all the evidence, a lot of people still dismiss creativity. In 2012, an Adobe study on creativity had some surprising results. Eight in ten people felt that unlocking creativity was critical to economic growth. Two-thirds of the participants felt like creativity was incredibly valuable to society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then, only one in four people felt like they were living up to their creative potential\u2014just one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the past, marketing and advertising used to be solely about creativity and the message. Then, people realized that the medium was just as important and the message, so the age of media planning and investment started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This then ushered in the age of digital advertising and targeting. Technology provides the tools for marketers to connect with consumers and develop compelling messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So creativity is amplified with data, which allows marketers to be more intentional and ensure that their clients are receiving the most relevant content possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Data is used to \u201charness the value of consumer engagement and ultimately provide insights and analytics.\u201d Creative thinking, one that\u2019s outside of the box, helps achieve business goals in the complex ecosystem between marketers and consumers across screens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s picture a world without creativity. The first thought that comes to mind is that it will be predictable and mechanical. To have a novel, compelling product, you need originality. And that won\u2019t come true based on data and analytics alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is what gives you a competitive edge. It adds value to your business, service, and product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And you know what else creativity does? It frees your mind in a way that makes you more likely to absorb knowledge. That trait everyone dismissed as “daydreaming?” It’s making processing and learning more efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also unlocks new alternative ways of thinking, enables you to find patterns, and allows non-linear thinking. And most importantly, creativity breeds empathy in this analytical world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your ability to innovate and present creative solutions is becoming a requirement to reach personal and professional success in this wildly competitive world. According to Kenneth Robinson, one of the leading thinkers on creativity and a renowned author, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Creativity is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status. <\/p>
Furthermore, creativity is basic to making our society viable because without we would lose our competitive edge.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
He found that our very existence– to some extent– depends on our ability to utilize creative intelligence. And until his death in August 2020, he tried to foster that creative intelligence and spread it throughout society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, how can you spread creativity and prove its importance to others? The first thing that everyone must do is stop believing in the myth that creativity is just a talent that a few people possess. People aren\u2019t born with wild imaginations and creative intelligence? It exists in all children, and parents are responsible for feeding it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Creative intelligence allows our minds to create things that don’t exist in the present, things that we have never experienced. It also allows us to develop hypotheses, conjecture, speculate and see possibilities where there were none before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Creativity allows us to utilize imagination and apply it to solve problems. This stereotype that only links creativity to certain fields and subjects such as advertising, design, and art– this is something that isn’t true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No matter how much the world has evolved or turned analytical and mechanical, every aspect of our lives needs this. In today\u2019s world, in this ever-changing global economy, we need creativity more than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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